by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
When the Jacksonville Suns recorded the last out Saturday afternoon against the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx to nail down the baseball team’s second outright Southern League title, per baseball tradition they mobbed each other right around the pitcher’s mound.
That 26-man, three-coach gathering was almost certainly the last time this version of the Suns will be together.
No team since Montgomery won three straight titles from 1975-77 has successfully defended a Southern League championship and there’s a good reason for it: the teams spilt up within days of winning their title, often for good. The Suns, the Double A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, are no exception.
Several players are headed to the Instructional League in Vero Beach with most of them then heading to the Arizona Fall League. Some will take a little time off before heading directly to Arizona. Many of the Latino players will head to Winter League teams in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Mexico and a few others will just take time off.
“Some of the players are on year-long contracts, others will be minor league free agents as of Oct. 15,” said Suns radio announcer Joe Block. “Jonathan Broxton, our closer, was called up by the Dodgers and leaves today. He pitched for them earlier this year, so that is not a surprise. He is the only one headed to the majors.”
The half-dozen Suns players headed to Vero Beach are doing so a bit tired perhaps. The minor league season usually ends Labor Day weekend, but because the Suns made the playoffs and championship series this year the team played an extra two weeks. After five weeks of intensive work concentrating more on specific aspects of the game — hitting, fielding, etc. — rather than playing in live games, many players will head to Arizona where they will play in a unique setting.
“They will play together in the Arizona League,” said Block of the Suns players. “There are six teams in the Arizona League and they are made up of five different Major League teams. The league runs from the end of October until about mid-December.”
Block said three players integral to the Suns’ success this year — Tydus Meadows, Jon Weber and Todd Donovan — are free agents and will probably be picked up by other teams. They will also likely take the a break from full-time baseball.
“They all made decent money this year, which means about $50,000 to $100,000, which is a decent living around here, so they may not play at all in the off-season,” said Block. “Tydus is having surgery on both shoulders and a wrist.”
As for the coaches, all three are headed in opposite directions. Manager John Shoemaker is off to Vero Beach while hitting instructor and former Dodgers catcher Steve Yeager is headed back to his hometown of Los Angeles. Pitching coach Ken Howell is returning to Detroit.
Suns owner and general manager Peter Bragan Jr. said this year was especially gratifying in the sense that having what Baseball America called the most talented team in all of minor league baseball proved true.
“Everyone said this team should win a championship and at times we played like anything but a championship team. So there was some concern,” said Bragan. “But our pitching was absolutely dominant at the end.”
The Suns won their first outright Southern League title in 1996 with a team far less talented, said Bragan.
“That ’96 bunch was mostly suspects with very few prospects. This team was wonderful and is filled with prospects. Coach Shoemaker did a great job,” said Bragan, adding he expects the team to be very competitive again next year. “We are going to take a shot at defending our title. Vero Beach (the Single A affiliate of the Dodgers) went to the playoffs this year in the Florida State League. (The Dodgers) will send some of those players up to us.”